NORWALK — While most people were enjoying the Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends, a local dentist took a trip to Honduras to provide free dental care to those in need.

Dr. Schatzie Vincent, who previously worked in Norwalk, and a small group of dentists, hygienists and dental assistants from Aspen Dental offices around the country, traveled to remote areas of Honduras from Nov. 21-28 where they set up makeshift dental clinics.

Vincent and the group visited a village in Yoro named Plan Grande, where they treated about 300 people and then hiked five hours to a mountain community named San Jose, where they treated more than 100 patients.

“We really try to go to the places where there is no access to dental care at all,” Vincent said. “We had to use generators in San Jose because there isn’t any electricity there and we used six mules to carry our supplies up the mountain. It was a real challenge to take upon ourselves, but we were prepared for it.”

From extractions to cleanings and fillings, Vincent said she and the other dentists worked to alleviate the most urgent needs and to improve the health of those they treated.

“The amount of decay and periodontal disease in San Jose was 10 times worse than what we saw in Plan Grande,” Vincent said. “The people who live there are actually squatters who don’t own title to their land. They don’t have toothbrushes or toothpaste in San Jose, while in Yoro, some of the people had fillings.”

Vincent, the director of community giving for Aspen Dental Management, headed the group of dentists on the trip. While there, Vincent said many of the patients walked more than three hours along dirt roads to meet the dentists and relive themselves from extreme dental pain.

Through translators, Vincent was able to communicate with her patients and educate them on oral health.

“In some cases, the only option was to have to pull the (patient’s) tooth because it posed the possibility of a life threatening condition,” Vincent said. “It was a tough decision to have to pull a front tooth (from a patient), especially with teenagers. Some of their teeth were black and decayed, it was sad.”

According to the Pan-American Health Organization, Honduras lacks adequate access to health services, with 83 percent of Hondurans lacking health insurance and most never having been to a dentist.

Vincent said the mission trip was done in partnership with New Hampshire-based Honduras Hope, a non-profit working to create stronger, more resilient and self-sufficient communities in rural northern Honduras since 2001.

The effort is part of Aspen Dental Management, Inc.’s (ADMI) “Overseas Outreach Program” that helps aid communities around the world in need of dental care. The trip was financially supported by ADMI.

To date, Vincent has traveled twice to Haiti, once to Nicaragua and most recently Honduras through the program.